Do Not Touch That Box (3)
After making my preparations, I let the box go.
As if proving it was merely shaped like a box and was actually something else entirely, it squeezed through a narrow gap like a slime and vanished in an instant.
"Why did you let it go?"
"I think someone is controlling it. Let's follow."
Had its identity been a mystery, it would be one thing, but now that I knew what kind of creature it was, it couldn't escape my tracking.
Still, the controller—whoever they were—might flee, so I couldn't afford to take my time.
The room at the very end of the second floor.
The box had moved to the coziest spot in the area designated for the second-years.
Creak.
I didn't hesitate to open the door.
In fact, it would be a relief if the opponent attacked us out of the blue.
No need to worry about repentance or anything; just beat them down and it's over. How clean is that?
"You really came."
"Tsk."
Inside was an ordinary-looking female student with brown hair and brown eyes.
However, on the desk she was presumably using, there were two more boxes identical to the one I had just released.
"I thought you were just an ordinary priest, but you're an exorcist."
"What makes you think that?"
"Isn't there something exorcists always do first when they meet people like me? I assume that's why you clicked your tongue."
This is why I hate quick-witted brats.
"Are you going to repent?"
"Yes. Take me away and lock me in a monastery."
The only reason I could personally supervise Luna was because of the unique combination of my cover identity and my real one.
Normally, they would be sent to a place like a monastery, cut off from the world, to begin the process of penance.
Until the transport team arrived to take custody of them, guarding and monitoring them was a massive pain in the ass.
"I guess you don't want to die."
"Of course..."
"Are you two not done yet?"
The moment Bella's voice, tinged with boredom, rang out, the female student's demeanor completely shifted.
"You..."
"Who are you?"
Unlike the student who clearly recognized Bella, Bella looked as if she had never seen this girl before in her life.
"Why are you here?!"
"Because this is the girls' dormitory."
Bella spoke calmly, but the other girl seemed to take it as a massive provocation.
"Eek!"
Slam! Slam! Slam!
She slammed her fists violently against the desk where the boxes sat, a stark contrast to her calm demeanor from moments ago.
Jealousy, envy, and inferiority.
It felt as though all of those emotions had coalesced and were now erupting outward.
"Aaargh! If it weren't for a bitch like you, I wouldn't have done this!"
It was the textbook pattern of those who sold their souls to demons out of sheer jealousy.
Man, it's been a while since I've seen this classic.
"Why is she acting like that?"
"Just think of it as jealousy toward geniuses."
"A... genius? Me? Why?"
Good grief.
She really has no idea.
Even to someone like me, who had killed plenty of mages, Bella was an anomaly even among geniuses.
Tap.
Releasing the magic that kept her levitating, she landed softly on the floor and faced the student.
"I am not a genius. I even review my lessons before going to sleep. It takes me a whole week just to create a simple new spell, so there is no way I am a genius."
Snap.
Hmm. I could practically hear the sound of a fuse blowing somewhere.
"I will kill you no matter what!"
The girl violently threw open all three boxes.
Naturally, I assumed she was waking the monsters to attack us.
But what emerged from the opened boxes was not monsters, but human hearts.
The hearts, still beating as if alive, began to shrivel. As they did, the girl's mana started to manifest physically.
"What is this mana density..."
Even I had never seen someone manifest such density without actually casting a spell.
"It seems she is drawing mana from the hearts. Now I understand why she targeted only the upper bodies. Since she seems to have business with me, would you mind stepping back?"
"If you insist..."
There was no reason to hesitate when someone else was offering to handle the annoying work.
"Is this... magic?"
"Yes! This is magic! Mana is the beginning and the end of magic!"
"Hmm. Now I understand why you called me a genius."
"What?"
"It is because you are too foolish. Mana is not everything to magic."
As Bella stood there aloofly, the surrounding mana began to gather around her.
The torrent of mana, completely ignoring the other girl's control, looked ready to swallow her fragile frame.
"Crazy..."
Yet Bella remained completely unaffected, like the eye of a hurricane.
I wasn't the only one surprised; the student looked utterly dumbfounded.
"No! This isn't real!"
"Control and manipulation. With them, a handful of mana can cast a powerful spell. Without them, even this much mana is useless."
"Die!"
Using the mana she barely held onto as a catalyst, she conjured flames that threatened to engulf the entire room.
Snap!
But the moment Bella snapped her fingers...
The flames that were about to consume her transformed into fluttering snowflakes.
"This is much prettier than crude flames."
"Ah... Aaaah...!"
Standing in the center of the falling snow, the student began to freeze.
Slowly, bit by bit, wherever the snow touched.
A slow death approached her, unlike the quick ends of the victims who had been lured to their deaths without knowing anything.
"It is... fine to kill her, right?"
"Yes, it's fine. Thank you for saving me the trouble."
Leaving behind the culprit, who had now become an ice statue, I checked inside the boxes.
"Tsk."
In the center of the box was something resembling a squid's beak, surrounded by rows of flat teeth.
Yet when touched, the exterior felt exactly like a wooden box.
Usually, when something mimicked an object, there would be some sense of incongruity, but this had absolutely none.
"It's not moving."
"It seems to be similar to a snake. It enters a dormant state after hunting, and in the meantime, the controller takes the heart."
The research labs would probably love to get their hands on this, but I wasn't friendly enough with those lunatics to do them any favors.
Whoosh!
"..."
"Are you angry?"
My expression must have changed without me realizing it.
Holy fire inflicts pain directly upon the soul.
Since it inflicted the agonizing pain of burning alive, even monsters were supposed to writhe in agony.
"It has no soul."
"An artificial lifeform...?"
Being knowledgeable in magic, she seemed to recognize the concept.
Even those damn demons possessed souls.
In this world, even trees and rocks harbored souls in the form of spirits.
Because it lacked a soul, a mage who had simply bloated their mana capacity was able to control multiple units.
"It appears to be a witch's creation. The supply chain has been cut off, so there shouldn't be any more, but a witch capable of making something like this will be a nuisance."
"Why would they make such a thing?"
"How should I know what goes on inside those witches' heads?"
Where there is demand, there is supply.
If there were plenty of bastards out there wanting things like this, of course the witches would make them.
"Let's pull back for now. The fire was quite large, so there might be witnesses."
"Yes."
The case was resolved, but a lingering sense of unease remained.
But if I kept hunting, I would run into them eventually.
The sun dipped below the horizon, and the moon began to show its face.
The occupant of a room so desolate it was hard to believe a female student lived there was lost in thought.
Bellatrix Hellsing.
The youngest daughter of the Hellsing family and a genius mage.
Just hearing her name made it sound like she should be out hunting monsters, yet the Hellsing family had sent her to the academy.
At a glance, it seemed they had sent her to hunt the monsters attacking the academy and the city, but that was not the case.
"What is it?"
The man visible through the communication device.
Rictor van Hellsing, the current head of the Hellsing family and her father, spat out a dry question that carried none of the warmth one would expect a father to show his daughter.
She didn't want to call him either, but Rictor was the only source she could turn to for information about the man who had begun to spark a change within her.
"Do you know much about exorcists?"
"Ha... Has some exorcist targeted you?"
"No. Today, alongside an exorcist, I defeated a mage who was using artificial lifeforms to kill people."
"You did...?"
"Yes."
Rictor's gaze shifted slightly.
She had shown an unprecedented talent from the moment she was born.
But after discovering the truth hidden behind it, Rictor had broken her down with cruel efficiency.
A witch, born with a distinct, powerful ego.
Because of this, he had completely destroyed her ego and rebuilt it. The result of that rebirth was the Bella of today.
"So, what is it you are curious about that made you contact me?"
"I am curious about that man. He has ash-gray hair, dull golden eyes, and wields holy power."
"The Butcher?"
"The Butcher? He didn't seem like the kind of person to be called that..."
"Ha... No one suits the word 'slaughter' more than him. Personally, I only wish the youth of today were even half the man he is."
He had been prickly, easily annoyed, and clearly found things bothersome, yet Bella had felt something unfamiliar hidden beneath it all.
Kindness. Yes, that is what they call kindness.
Knowing it in theory was vastly different from experiencing it firsthand.
In her eighteen years of life, it was the first time anyone had ever shown her kindness.
"I do not know why he is there, but make sure you stay by his side."
"Why?"
"Even a witch can bear a human child. Use that body of yours to seduce him if you must."
Witches.
Beings that could only be female; humans, yet not human.
Because they were born with a distinct ego even as infants, they knew they were witches from the moment they drew breath.
But as the head of the Hellsing family, Rictor could not tolerate such a thing.
Despite using all his magical and ritualistic power to prevent it, the daughter born to him was a witch.
The disappearance of her purple eyes—the very symbol of a witch's ego—was proof that Bellatrix Hellsing the witch had been completely erased.
"I will take care of it myself. You sent me here to die anyway, didn't you?"
"Do you dare display a will of your own?"
Her fingertips trembled.
Fear, the only emotion she had ever known before meeting Dante, reared its head once more.
Yet the doll-like girl who had taken obedience for granted before coming to the academy was no longer there.
"I doubt the Butcher would approve of what you did to me. Am I wrong?"
"..."
Rictor could not bring himself to deny it.
The tale of the Butcher summoning a demon just to slay it and save a child who had been forced into demon worship was famous.
"I will keep your secret. So please, Father, do not interfere. Isn't it enough that you sent me here?"
"Hmph! Do you truly believe that makes you human?"
Dante believed she had simply been at the dormitory, but in truth, she had been watching the cathedral from afar since morning before following him.
She had observed the bustling morning routine of the cathedral, and she had also seen the only nun who accompanied him.
She wasn't human.
Being sensitive to mana, Bella had known instantly.
Even though the nun was not human, Dante did not care.
The nun smiled when she looked at Dante, and though Dante sighed whenever she made a mistake, he still looked after her.
"That is not for you to decide."
If someone had to decide that for her, it was abundantly clear that it wouldn't be the father who had tried to turn her into a mere weapon.
Going to bed after such an unsettling conclusion.
Feeling restless, I poured myself a late-night drink for the first time in a while.
"Hmm..."
What is it?
I feel like I'm forgetting something.
Starting from the ghost train to the artificial lifeforms, and in between, meeting the Dhampir Luna, who supposedly hadn't been seen for hundreds of years.
It was a chaotic enough series of events to make anyone forgetful, but this felt like something I absolutely shouldn't have forgotten.
"Ah! Protecting the key characters!"
But... who was it again?